Third 'Bayside' film opens strong

Hollywood out of Japan's top three this week

TOKYO -- The third “Bayside Shakedown” movie stormed to the top of the weekend boxoffice rankings taking just under 972 million yen ($11 million) in its first two days.

“Odoru Daisen THE MOVIE 3 Yatsura o kaihouseyo,” the film's full title, pulled in 707,400 viewers to 447 screens on Saturday and Sunday, giving it the kind of start needed if it is to match the second installment in the franchise, which remains Japan’s biggest-grossing domestic live-action movie, with 17.35 billion yen.

Distributor Toho is confident it will break the 10 billion yen barrier.

“Confessions,” which was knocked down one spot after four weekends at the top, has now taken 2.78 billion yen.

Luc Besson’s “The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec” bowed at number three with 166 million yen, while “Iron Man 2” and “Sex and the City 2” both dropped a spot to fourth and fifth, respectively.

Takeshi’s gangster flick, “Outrage,” also dropped down one rank to seventh place after a month in theaters.

“The Book of Eli,” released here as, “The Walker,” fell to eighth, while “Alice in Wonderland” was still in the top 10 after 12 weeks.